EDCU20038 - Teaching Science

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit you will develop an understanding of both the content and pedagogy required to teach science in early childhood education and care settings and in primary school classrooms. You are introduced to concepts on how children learn science, the importance of science education in an Australian and international context and current views regarding effective pedagogical practice. You will examine research that has informed the selection of pedagogy with children in early childhood education and care settings and in primary school classrooms. Practical application of skills related to the Australian Curriculum: Science will focus on learning and teaching across the four Understanding Substrands of Biological Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, Chemical Sciences and Physical Sciences. There is an emphasis on science inquiry skills, in particular, identifying and posing questions; planning, conducting and reflecting on investigations; processing, analysing and interpreting evidence; and communicating findings. The unit includes an emphasis on effective student engagement within science education through the appropriate selection, application and assessment of science content knowledge.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 50%
2. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24.49% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: New Australian Curriculum
Feedback
V9 ACARA Curriculum
Recommendation
Moodle site will be updated where appropriate to reflect new curriculum.
Action Taken
This was undertaken and continues to be a work in progress.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Focus on more practical examples.
Recommendation
Revise unit materials to include more practical, tangible examples of student activities.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate examples of teaching and assessment practice in science education to identify how connections are made to students’ prior knowledge or experience to promote learning
  2. Access and apply professional literature on contemporary science education to critically evaluate or justify planning and assessment practices
  3. Plan learning experiences that use appropriate research-based pedagogy and ICTs to structure content and address students’ possible misconceptions in science education
  4. Develop diagnostic, formative and summative assessment tools that identify students’ understanding of scientific phenomena
  5. Select teaching and learning and assessment strategies that draw on understandings from research of how students learn in order to support active learning, promote higher order thinking and scaffold students’ understanding of core concepts in science
  6. Identify strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities.

Successful completion of this course provides opportunities for students to demonstrate the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas of:

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students.

1.2 Understand how learners learn

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs

3.3 Use teaching strategies

3.4 Select and use resources

3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs

4.1 Support student participation

5.1 Assess student learning

5.5 Report on student achievement

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8